Arts preview

When Southeast Missouri State University's School of Visual and Performing Arts opens at the River Campus next fall, the region will have two venues for first-class performances: the Show Me Center and the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall.

The Show Me Center can hold up to 7,000 people. At the River Campus, the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall will provide a more intimate setting for fewer than 1,000.

Touring groups confirmed at the River Campus so far for the 2007-2008 schedule are the Shaolin Warriors, the St. Petersburg Ballet from Russia and the American Indian Dance Theatre. Several other high-profile shows are tentatively signed.

Hiring Robert Cerchio as assistant director of the school was a coup for the university. Cerchio had spent the past 30 years as assistant director and director of Shryock Auditorium, Southern Illinois University's concert hall. He has the expertise to help make the performance hall a success from the start.

Part of the hall's schedule will be devoted to performances by the arts school. Already scheduled are university productions of the musical "Big River" and the play "Coyote Ugly" next fall and the plays "Crimes of the Heart" and "Biloxi Blues" in the spring of 2008.

Cerchio has said his goal is to keep ticket prices below $40. That will require corporate sponsorship in some cases.

A quantum leap in the quality of the region's cultural life is less than a year away.